| NOTE:
Versions of this article also appeared in the Toronto Sun and Calgary Sun.
PUBLICATION: The Ottawa
Sun -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AG SET FOR 2ND LOOK AT REGISTRY -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Canada's federal spending watchdog is carrying out a secondary audit of the much-maligned gun registry. Auditor General Sheila Fraser confirmed in a letter to Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz her team is following up on the feds to see if they acted on recommendations from her December 2002 audit. In that report, Fraser exposed how the controversial program that was expected to cost $2 million ballooned to a staggering $1-billion or more. The so-called "boondoggle" fueled cries from critics like Breitkreuz to scrap the program. In her recent letter, Fraser said the status report isn't intended to be a comprehensive audit, but will address "additional issues." She expects to table the results with Parliament in February 2006. COST COMING DOWN Subsequent independent estimates since 2002 have put the tally at $2 billion -- a figure the government has disputed. The program was originally slated to cost $2 million. Grilled on the "federal firearms fiasco" in the House of Commons yesterday, Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan insisted costs have consistently come down since 2000. The program now has an $85-million cap, and the operating budget for the entire program in 2005-06 is $82.5 million, she said. The registry component will be $15.7 million. Breitkreuz maintained the program is a waste. "How many lives could have been saved if we had spent this wasted billion on DNA analysis, cancer research or more police on the streets? The gun registry is either a huge scandal or gross incompetence." kathleen.harris@tor.sunpub.com ----------------------------------------------- June 15,
2005 - Auditor General clarifies the scope her next firearms program audit |